And here we are with the latest chapter of Awaken the Light. I'll keep this intro brief since it's been a couple of weeks since the last update, but getting sick right after posting a new chapter is a real kick in the teeth. Was sick for a week so it took a lot longer to get this chapter out than I would've liked.
Shoutout to SuperSayainFever, Gamerlover41592, Finalcool720, Haxorus Knight, Guest-Questioner, hcbnc, and Legendary Energy for the reviews. Without wasting anymore time, let's dive right in.
The next day…
U.A. High School Faculty Meeting Room
Yagi rubbed the back of his head as this emergency meeting he had called for with Principal Nezu and the rest of the faculty had still been going on after almost four hours. He knew that it was going to be at least two hours long once he had managed to condense Young Haruki's story down to just the key details, but he hadn't predicted how many questions and concerns would come from it.
It wasn't that no one here believed what they were being told, aside from All Might's recounting of what he was told the previous day, he had also been given the Gummiphone and had nearly overloaded it when he smiled to turn it on. That certainly would not have ended well. No everyone's current concerns on some of the details and implications of what Sora's arrival meant.
"If everyone's done postulating, I think we should go through the list of concerns and address them with what information we currently have." Aizawa spoke up, having been mostly quiet throughout this whole thing, merely keeping up with notes.
"I think that's an excellent idea, after all, right now we're going round and round like hamsters! Not that I'm a hamster mind you. You have the floor Aizawa." Nezu chuckled a bit as he sipped on his second cup of tea, his tone friendly enough. The rest of the teachers nodded.
"The most serious concern and one I heard most repeated, with Sora's arrival here, do we need to expect any of his enemies to come following after him? Between what's in his phone and what All Might relayed to use at the end of his story, there are a few we can cross off that list. This Organization XIII was confirmed to be defeated, considering Sora was directly involved with battling or redeeming each member. Aside from that, only one in their number had this Keyblade and Sora wasn't aware of a way to cross worldlines without one correct?"
The underground hero looked at All Might who merely nodded.
"That also eliminates Maleficent and any of her accomplices for the same reason. Furthermore, two of these four...creatures-" This was sounding far too much like an over complicated video game for his liking, but right now he was focused. "-the Unversed and Dream Eaters can't exist here. The source of the Unversed was defeated since he was part of the Organization and honestly, the whole Sleeping World thing is ridiculous, I for one find it illogical that our world has been stuck in a loop and no one's noticed a thing. So the Dream Eaters are out."
The rest of the staff nodded in agreement at that, so that was four out of six potential new threats already off the table. Though of course the main one that they were most concerned with were…
"The Heartless. According to Sora and the notes in this Journal on his phone, they are darkness in people's hearts made manifest. There are two variations of these, the Pureblood and the Emblem. I shouldn't need to explain how to tell them apart." Everyone had seen the symbols for each of those creatures, the Heartless symbol had been the one that had been the most memorized.
"Now I'm not sure if the Emblem variety could exist here unless they follow Sora here, but Pureblood Heartless could easily become a problem. We have no way of knowing if our own world has a Realm of Darkness and no way to find out either. On the off chance that we don't, then we can rule out Nobodies as well. Our main concern at this point is determining if Sora unintentionally woke up a hornet's nest by being here, since these things are attracted to the Keyblade. Whether we have our own Realm of Darkness or the Heartless from his worldline will somehow follow him here."
'Such a problem child and I haven't even met him yet.'
"Maybe there's a dimension sensing Quirk that we can find and have them check?"
"I don't think this would fall under a different dimension."
"Maybe a Quirk that utilizes shadows? They might have some sort of subconscious link with this place."
"Quirks come from our DNA, not from an outside source, that seems implausible at best."
And so the back and forth went between several of the staff for a few minutes, with Aizawa, Yagi, and Nezu being noticeably quiet. No one could come up with a good way to solve this dilemma and it wouldn't be practical to inform every pro hero of a threat that may not exist or come. Not to mention what villains would do if they learned about this, the kind of evil they could accomplish by using the Heartless was not a pleasant thought.
However, Yagi soon spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I believe we're safe on the Heartless front as well."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the Number One Hero, crossing his arms. "Care to explain or is this just more misplaced optimism?"
"Well you see…"
"Well young man, becoming a Hero is quite the process. I'd be more than happy to go over that with you once you're out of the hospital. In the meantime, I think it's best that you focus on your recovery. With any luck you should be cleared for release within the next couple of days."
Sora chuckled a bit at that, not used to healing the old fashioned way like this. "Yeah, it's not like I'm in a rush or anything. Without my Keyblade, it's not like I know where to start looking to get home."
Yagi raised an eyebrow at that statement, tilting his head a bit. "But that weapon you summoned for me and my friend a few hours ago, was that not your Keyblade?"
Sora shook his head a bit. "It looks almost exactly like it, but in my heart...it doesn't feel the same. The light I was holding definitely felt familiar to whenever I'd summon my keyblade, but...I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's like I was pulling in the light from around me instead of within when I summoned it."
All Might nodded a bit, not fully understanding it, but then again this was a lot to take in at once. "I see."
"I don't know, I guess...it just showed up in that form because that's what I needed most at the time. I'm not sure if I can make other things yet with that light."
"...and that's what he told me. At this point it seems likely that his Quirk is Light based in some regard, though to what extent we'll need a full Quirk evaluation to see. But he was clear when he said that he did not have his Keyblade." Yagi finished recalling the last bit of his conversation with Sora with crossed arms.
Aizawa was actually a bit impressed with his future co worker, for once he had actually used that head of his instead of going off a gut feeling. "So for the time being, we can cross the Heartless and by extension Nobodies off of the list. Without a keyblade, there's nothing to draw them here."
"I've been giving that some thought Eraserhead and I don't believe that our world has a Realm of Darkness to speak of or Heartless of its own. After all, one could say that the 'darkness' of our world has been Villains ever since Quirks came into being, with us Heroes being the ones to keep the 'light' safe. I don't believe Sora arriving here will do anything to disrupt this, both now and once he regains his true strength. In fact, I believe we may have quite the prospective student once the next school year starts."
Nezu finished speaking with a smile on his face and paws behind his back, completely certain of what he had just stated. Sora had already performed feats that most pro heroes would be hard pressed to repeat and while he was rough around the edges when it came to some of the duties of a hero in this world, his heart was certainly in the right place. And that could easily be remedied with the right education and training.
Yagu nodded in agreement with the principal's assessment as he had reached a similar conclusion after speaking with Sora personally. Aizawa on the other hand had a frown on his face, hand clenching his marker rather tightly. He certainly didn't approve of giving this problem child a free pass into U.A. just because of his past accomplishments.
"The boy doesn't even know what his own Quirk is yet, nor does he know anything about how heroes operate and conduct themselves here, nor our history. I do not want him getting into our school via recommendation, especially since we don't know when his power will reawaken. Imagine what would happen if the school year starts and then he just vanishes because he got his power back? We now have a drop out student that we can't feasibly explain to the public on why he vanished. If he's willing to put in the work to get into our school like everyone else, that's a different story entirely."
Aizawa didn't have anything personal against Sora, but the rest of the staff needed to face reality. This kid likely wasn't going to be here forever, he did have his own life and people that he needed to get back to. He simply didn't want to hand someone who could bail at the drop of a hat something that other students had been waiting their whole lives for. Even if they didn't take it seriously at first. Sora certainly had the heart to get into U.A., he would just need to prove it, Plus Ultra style.
Nezu looked at his colleague and nodded slightly, his expression looking a tad disappointed. He had reached a similar conclusion, but it wasn't one that he would've voiced like that. "That is a fair point. There are a few other issues with Sora's previous adventures that will make adapting a challenge for him, but that's something that we can work on with time. This discussion is one that can wait until we are closer to the entrance exams though." His tone left little room for debate on that, with Aizawa getting the message.
"Now, onto our next order of business, figuring out the cover story that we will be presenting to the police and media. All Might has informed me that there was more than one witness who saw Sora's arrival to our world and while this normally wouldn't cause an upset, one of the witnesses managed to get a video recording of Sora appearing out of nowhere. While he has agreed to keep his silence until our visitor is released from the hospital, we cannot guarantee if he will keep his silence after that, nor is it something we should force."
That was certainly a cause for whispers among the staff, Sora didn't need to be hounded by the media circus with what he was dealing with. In addition, the news would try to get as much information out of him as possible and he didn't seem like the type who could handle that type of pressure yet.
"Well didn't he say he was from an island? Are there any islands nearby that have had any natural disasters or villainous activity recently?"
"Actually, about a week ago there was a major tsunami that hit the small island town of Takarajima. From the last reports that the police received, there were multiple civilians unaccounted for despite multiple heroes reporting on the scene to search for them. If they don't turn up soon, more than likely the case will be declared cold and the missing persons being declared deceased." Nezu's tone was somber, it had certainly been a tragedy about what had happened. He looked over at Present Mic, the gears in his head already turning on what to do with this information.
"Well, since there are multiple civilians unaccounted for, couldn't we just throw the little listener in and claim him as a missing person?" Present Mic's suggestion was a simple, yet effective one. Sora's injuries had matched up well enough with being a natural disaster victim and they could easily attribute him showing up in the sky as a result of his Quirk. It was light based and he had been seen surrounded by light before he hit the water.
Plus, since the Quirk would be used in self defense in this case, the law wouldn't need to be applied to Sora. And with no family here to claim him and his 'home' in ruins and looking at months of reconstruction, it would be a simple matter for a foster guardian to take Sora in. Though the thought of putting someone that old in the foster system didn't really sit well with anyone.
"All Might would you be able to…" Nezu had started, before the hero nodded.
"Of course, I'll speak with Detective Naomasa once we're done with this meeting and run it past him. Though I have to ask, where will Young Haruki be placed? With how old he is, I'm not sure a foster home would be ideal."
"On that, we are in agreement. Sora will need a guardian who is aware of his situation and can properly care for him, while also helping him learn about our world." Nezu placed his paw under his chin, before he smiled and held his other paw up with a finger pointed up. "To that end, I believe one of us should take Sora in!"
Several seconds of silence passed, before multiple teachers began to exclaim surprise. The idea made perfect sense, but between their teaching duties and duties as pro heroes, who would have the time?
"I could certainly take him in, Sora seems like such a nice young man~"
"Midnight, you are not taking Sora in. He needs someone to take care of him, not someone who will constantly flirt with him."
Midnight scoffed and rolled her eyes a bit. "Oh? And you're volunteering for that Aizawa? Forgive me, but you don't exactly seem like the father hen type."
"Don't get sassy when you know I'm right, it's unbefitting of a U.A. Teacher. And no, I'm not. I highly doubt I would get along well with Sora. Our personalities would simply clash too much."
After that, the staff went back and forth for several minutes on who would be best qualified to take Sora in, since it would be a long term commitment and it wasn't a decision to be made lightly. The suggestion had been made multiple times for All Might to take the boy in, but he declined each time, stating that while the kid had taken a shine to him, he wouldn't be the best guardian to look after him.
"You know, I wouldn't mind looking after the little listener. Seems like a cool enough kid and besides, I'm sure we'd get along well." Present Mic had spoken up again, grinning a bit. From what they had been talking about, Sora seemed like he would be a good kid and easy to get along with. Plus, the kid was just as energetic as he was, meaning he should be able to keep up with his rapid pace teaching skill.
"Are you sure about this? This is a long term commitment you're agreeing to Present Mic. If you're not up for it, I'm sure I could-"
"Nah, it's fine Nezu! If I need any help I'll be sure to ask, but I'm sure me and Sora are gonna get along great!"
"Very well, Present Mic will therefore be assuming guardianship over Sora Haruki barring any complications. With that, I think it's safe to say that we can officially welcome Sora to our world now!"
Hospital, Same Time
Sora sighed a bit to himself as he laid in his hospital bed, wishing he had his phone right now so he could be doing something. His room didn't have any books or a television in it, which left him with little to do at the moment. Which led to him currently doing some light stretches in his room to at least try and move around a bit after having been stuck in bed for the last several days.
Thankfully, according to the doctors he wouldn't be stuck here for too long. They just needed to keep him one more day for observation and then he would be free to go the following morning. Though, where he was going to go was a different matter altogether.
All Might had explained to him that morning that he was going to a meeting with some staff members at U.A. High School to discuss his arrival and what his future living conditions would look like. He had reassured him multiple times that these people could be trusted and that his secret would be safe with them. That this was a necessity to ensure that he had the help he needed while he was here.
It wasn't like he distrusted the hero or anything, he was just nervous with so many people knowing his secrets. He didn't want to imagine someone deciding to target him to see if they could get his power. Or worse, if he got close to someone in this world and they got targeted because of him. He had already nearly lost Kairi to someone and that was an experience that he didn't want to repeat in his lifetime. He couldn't save anyone now if their heart was lost regardless.
'No matter what happens, you have to accept it and move on.'
Those words from Chirithy rang in his ears as he stretched his arms, the young man trying to keep his smile up. He had accepted what had happened before, thanks to his actions, Kairi was safe and he wouldn't look back at those choices with regret. He just wasn't sure what he would do if he failed to save someone here, friend or otherwise.
Before he could try and compose his thoughts, there was a knock on the door. "Sora, you have a visitor to see you. Think you're up for it?"
The hospital staff knew he had been dealing with a lot with all the constant questions from the police and All Might and were trying not to overwhelm him. Honestly though, visitors meant that he hopefully wouldn't be left alone with his thoughts. The distraction was certainly welcome right now. "Yeah, go ahead and send them in. Was just trying to do some stretching."
The nurse opened the door shortly after his response, a green haired kid around his age standing in the doorway. He seemed a bit unsure about being there, but after a few seconds he walked in as the nurse introduced him. "This is Izuku Midoriya, he was at the beach where you were rescued by All Might. He wanted to make sure that you were doing alright. I'll leave you two alone for a while, you know what to do if you need anything."
Sora nodded as the nurse closed the door behind Izuku, with Sora taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Thanks for coming to visit Midoriya-kun, it's a nice change of pace from the last couple of days."
"Y-Yeah, no problem, I'm glad you're doing better Haruki. You definitely look a lot better than when we found you."
"The nurse mentioned that you were at the beach, were you with All Might when I showed up?"
"Yeah, I actually managed to spot you first and started to run to save you, but All Might saw you and managed to get you to shore by the time I was on the beach. You really gave us a scare, looked like you were on death's door."
"To be honest, I didn't know if I was gonna make it myself. I definitely feel a lot better now though, can't say I'm used to having to go to a hospital. I've always been a fast healer." Then again, when you had access to healing magic, hospitals we're kind of a moot point. That was definitely going to be missed.
Izuku's expression turned a bit curious at that statement, the gears in his head turning as he started to wonder about Sora's Quirk. "So, you're Quirk is healing based? That can definitely be useful, would explain why your body was so exhausted when we found you despite what few bruises and cuts you have. I wonder if it uses your natural stamina to heal injuries or if it's something else…"
Sora just watched as Izuku started mumbling to himself, having only caught the beginnings of it before he completely lost track of what he was saying. He definitely seemed enthusiastic though, reminded him of himself a bit. "Midoriya-kun!"
"Oh gosh, I was doing it again wasn't I? I'm so sorry!" Izuku was trembling a bit as he realized he had been mumbling about Quirks again, clearly expecting some kind of negative backlash. All Sora did was laugh good naturedly at that.
"It's fine, it's kinda refreshing to see someone so interested in my abilities. But no, my Quirk isn't healing based, I just tend to be able to recover quicker than most people I've known. My Quirk is Light based."
Izuku's eyes seemed to widen at that, quickly pulling out a charred notebook and opening it and beginning to jot down notes inside of it. "So what exactly can your Quirk do?"
"Well um...that part I'm not really sure on." Sora paused for a moment as he looked at Izuku as he had stopped writing. "You see, until a little over a year ago, I was actually Quirkless."
"W-Wait, you were…"
"Yup, I was just a dull, ordinary boy as some of the adults put it, but my Quirk came in really late, was considered a big miracle. Unfortunately I wasn't really allowed to use it back home, so I don't really know what I can do with it. All Might's actually taking me to a Quirk Evaluation Center tomorrow so we can figure out the full extent of my Quirk."
Izuku nodded a bit as he looked Sora over, seeing him in a new light, knowing that he had been Quirkless for most of his life. "Say...um...sorry if this seems invasive, but do you want to be a hero too?"
Sora grinned a bit as he thought his answer, crossing his arms. When he had been growing up, he and his friends had wanted to leave the Islands to see other worlds, to explore. But after everything he had been through since getting the Keyblade, his mind was made up. Whether it was only in this world or for all the worlds out there once he could make it home, his path was clear.
"Well, honestly I wasn't sure when my Quirk came in, but after being saved by All Might...I want to be a hero that can keep everyone smiling! Someone who can give the chance for everyone to be happy. But...even if I had stayed Quirkless, that wouldn't change my resolve. Even if it was just a small difference I could make, I'd still do everything I could to become a hero."
Izuku was practically in tears at Sora's words, realizing how similar their stories were. Both of them had grown up Quirkless and despite that, despite Sora being years behind everyone else, he wanted to be a hero too. Meanwhile he was training to be able to accept One for All so that he could be a hero. The fact that there was someone he could relate too now, just inspired him to push himself harder so he could accept All Might's quirk.
"T-That's amazing Haruki-kun. I'm Quirkless too...but all my life people have been telling me I can't be a hero without a Quirk." He remembered exactly what Kacchan had told him a month ago, that he should take a swan dive off the roof and pray he was born with a Quirk in the next life. It was a bitter memory and one he wished he could forget, but it wasn't that easy. He'd just prove his best friend wrong!
Sora meanwhile scoffed at what Izuku said, shaking his head a bit. "Well those people are wrong. To me, being a hero isn't about how powerful you are or how flashy or any of that stuff. It's about how much heart you put into it." He grinned as he punched his chest a little to emphasize the point.
"You can have as much power as you want, but if you don't have the heart, I don't think you can call yourself a true hero. And Midoriya-kun, the fact that you were going to try and save me despite not having a Quirk. I think you're a lot closer to being a hero than those other people give you credit for."
Izuku looked shell shocked at those words, trembling at the positive words. "H-Haruki-kun...I...thank you! Let's become great heroes together!"
Sora smiled as he walked up to Izuku and took his hand in a sign of friendship. "Sounds great Midoriya-kun! Let's both do our best to achieve our dream!" Maybe being stuck here for awhile wouldn't be that bad, especially since he had already made a friend.
And with that, we have the foundation set for Sora's journey going forward. Next chapter will be covering Sora's Quirk Evaluation test, which I will be taking some liberties with since it's never really fully covered in the actual series. Plus, Sora is a lot older than most when being tested for their Quirk, so he gets a special test.
And to address something I'm sure will get asked in the reviews, Sora's guardian for while he's in the hero world, at least until the U.A. Dorm System is put into place. I decided to go with Present Mic since I feel their personalities would mesh together extremely well and honestly, I wanted to break away from the trend that I've seen in other MHA Fics where they stay with Izuku or All Might.
With that cleared up, onto the questions.
SuperSaiyanFever
Sora's quirk will be evolving in this story, though not in the way you're expecting. As for the Dive to the Heart, remember that in a few chapters from now.
Guest-Questioner
To be honest, this was my solution to addressing the Level 1 reset that I'm sure is gonna be invoked once we hit the next game to feature Sora, but in a way to where he hasn't lost everything. We'll be seeing the extent of where Sora's abilities are currently at next chapter.
Legendary Energy
To answer your questions in order, wait and see on what Sora will need to regain, though I personally disagree about Sora being able to beat most shonen characters post KH3. As for other Kingdom Hearts characters, it seems like right now that'll be extremely unlucky given what ReMind established a year after the end of KH3 and they have no leads on Sora. And given we are just days after that right now, it doesn't seem like anyone will be finding him anytime soon. And as for All for One, we'll have to wait and see if Sora catches his eye. Doesn't seem like a Light based Quirk would really fit himself or Tomura.
That's all the questions for this chapter, until next time, take care!